It's just a cruel twist of nature and fate that brings together the best weather for riding with the heaviest crush of tourist season here in the Adirondacks (upstate NY). Except for a few spotty weeks in the spring and fall (after the snow melts off the roads and before it starts to fall again) the vehicle population must at least triple or more from Memorial day to Labor day.
That being said, let me relate just a few recent examples of why you should never I mean NEVER trust a cager...or, along with expected inattentiveness, COUNT on them to do the amazingly unpredictable.
Commuting home yesterday evening, 45-55 mph, light trafftc, 2 lane road. Come into a small town with an outdoor BBQ restaurant coming up on my left. It is very popular summers and always slows traffic, but I know this. Cager (minivan, of course) ahead of me puts on the LEFT signal and slows down. I slow down and think about scooting past on the right shoulder. I don't. Good thing. He (she?) decides to make a RIGHT into a store driveway. YIKES!!! Had I gone around on the right I'd have been eating gravel. :guns:
Stopped at a light in town. It's a T-intersection..you have to go left or right. Waiting for the cager ahead of me to go. Waiting. Waiting. Green light. Still waiting. Finally, I gingerly edge around the right and look over...of course! She's futzing with a cell phone (which is illegal in NY while operating a vehicle, though she was not really operating it at the time) totally oblivious to anything and everything around her. Probably text-messaging..just what we need, another attention-sucking technology.
:x
In another town, a very busy one with tons of turistas all summer...I'm crawling along main street when the cager in front of me hits the brakes and stops. I'm OK, cause I expect this kind of stuff. There was NOTHING in front of her. No apparent reason to stop suddenly like that. The rear doors fly open and 4 icky grubby little mini-kids scamper out and run toward the movie theater. Somehow, these kids have survived to the ages of 9 or 10, in spite of zero parental supervision. :?
I could go on and on as I'm sure all of you could. Just expect anything, cause that's what usually happens. Keep your sense of humor and above all...RIDE SAFE. :thumb:
It never ceases to suprise me how some people become completely clueless...
I have been pulled out in front of by all maner of vehicles, and I must say that I would rather face a blind turn banked wrong then heavy traffic on a friday when the kids are out of school...
QuoteI would rather face a blind turn banked wrong then heavy traffic on a friday when the kids are out of school...
....or that nasty I-5 shuffle just north of the convention center and on or around the ship canal bridge....it even sucks in a car let alone on a bike.... :guns:
In the last two days.. ive been cut off twice... that i can recall...
BOTH TIMES the drivers were on cell phones!!! :guns:
The fact that both drivers were doing this... makes me realize i have a special duty to perform next time. I will block the road with my bike... run back to the car and explain to them why they shouldnt talk on their cell phones while driving. Then i will grab their phone and shout.."CAN YOU SEE ME NOW??!!!.....GOOD!!!!!!" :nana: ::Crunch::
In the last two days.. ive been cut off twice... that i can recall...
BOTH TIMES the drivers were on cell phones!!! :guns:
The fact that both drivers were doing this... makes me realize i have a special duty to perform next time. I will block the road with my bike... run back to the car and explain to them why they shouldnt talk on their cell phones while driving. Then i will grab their phone and shout.."CAN YOU SEE ME NOW??!!!.....GOOD!!!!!!" :nana: ::Crunch::
Whoa! Deja Vu. Must be a glitch in the Matrix.
NOPE..lol.. im just double pissed!!!!! :nana:
Those cell-phones are a real problem. Here (Netherlands) they passed a law that says it's illegal to operate your (non-handsfree) cellphone in the car. For a while this worked, but now people are calling more than ever behind the wheel, without handsfree-kits!
New research suggests that a handsfree phone distracts the rider as much from riding as a hand-operated cellphone. This makes the new law obsolete, because even with a carkit you wouldn't be paying attention!
It's very easy to identify a caller. They don't notice when the light turns green, they wander all over the road and their speed varies constantly. It's like they're drunk :guns: